TarraWarra Museum of Art have this week announced Wurundjeri and Dja Dja Wurrung woman and current Victorian NAIDOC Committee Chairperson Stacie Piper as First Peoples Curator for Yalingwa 2019.
Yalingwa is a major First Peoples visual arts initiative, developed in partnership between the Victorian Government, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) and TarraWarra Museum of Art (TMA). Yalingwa has a primary focus on South East Australian artists and encompasses major exhibitions, curatorial positions and artist fellowships. It saw the successful presentation of the exhibition ‘A Lightness of Spirit is the Measure of Happiness’, at ACCA in 2018, which was curated by the inaugural Yalingwa curator, Hannah Presley. The first Yalingwa Fellowship was awarded to artist Destiny Deacon in 2018.
Stacie Piper and Djirri Djirri dancers at Smith Street Dreaming Festival. Photograph: James Henry. Courtesy TarraWarra Museum of Art
Working with TarraWarra Museum of Art, Piper will conceive, curate and realise a major exhibition of First Peoples art, which will open at the Museum in 2021. Most recently Piper held the position of Project Officer and Curator for Museums Victoria, where she was accountable for engaging with the Victorian First Peoples community and developing a program of exhibitions and events including ‘Ganbu Yalingbu, Ngulu-Bulok ‘One Day, Many Voices’, an exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum; ‘Marramb-ik ‘I Am’, honouring the late Lin Onus along with four Victorian artists of comic and cosplay pop culture; ‘Because Of Her We Can’, aligned with NAIDOC Week 2018 and dedicated to women who were instrumental in establishing the health, education and housing services of Victoria; and, ‘Silent Witness: A Window To The Past’, featuring photographs of scar trees by Uncle Jim Berg, Senior Gunditjmara Elder.
‘Yalingwa is about significantly raising the profile of First Peoples art in Victoria, especially by South East Australian artists. It’s also about providing significant new, career-boosting opportunities to both curators and artists, ’ said Martin Foley, Minister for Creative Industries. ‘Congratulations to Stacie who will build on her experience and expertise to date to curate a landmark exhibition of First Peoples art at TarraWarra in 2021,’ he continued.
Victoria Lynn, Director, TarraWarra Museum of Art said, ‘The depth and breadth of the Yalingwa initiative is visionary, supporting the creating, curating and exhibiting of First Peoples arts in Victoria. We are thrilled to welcome Stacie on board and look forward to working with her to realise an ambitious exhibition of South East Australian First Peoples art’.
Expressions of interest for the one-year Yalingwa Fellowship are open to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visual artists who live and work in Victoria across all disciplines of visual arts practice. The Fellowship aims to assist career development of artists who have made an outstanding contribution to creative practice in the First Peoples arts community and are at a critical moment in their career.
The 2019 Fellow will be awarded a cash grant of $60,000. The Fellowship can be used for the experimentation and development of new work, research, professional travel or to consolidate the artist’s practice or studio space, among other priorities, and the artist will have the opportunity to build a strong relationship with the First Peoples Curator and TarraWarra Museum of Art, Melbourne.
For further information and the application process for the 2019 Yalingwa Fellowship follow this .
Submissions close Monday 30 September 2019
